


Mutually Oblivious

by narukamiyu



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Getting Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Black Eagles Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21953332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narukamiyu/pseuds/narukamiyu
Summary: Edelgard asks Claude for a small favor: help her two advisors realize their feelings for each other.
Relationships: Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra
Comments: 2
Kudos: 139





	Mutually Oblivious

**Author's Note:**

> a secret santa gift for lizzie!! <3

Claude was clearly minding his business as usual, so he had no idea why Edelgard was marching up to him after the meeting. No, really! He had no clue what she wanted, though she didn’t appear...angry. That was a plus, right? “Hey! You don’t seem too happy.”

Edelgard pursed her lips as she scrutinized him. Was she displeased with the negotiation terms that they’d arrived at? Did she think he was planning something under the table? Claude couldn’t think of anything that he’d done lately that would piss the emperor off.

“You’re...good with people, aren’t you?”

Claude smiled at her easily. “Well, I kind of have to be. What does that have to do with anything?”

Edelgard sighed and shook her head, a rare sign of weakness from her. Though to be fair, they were the only people left in the room. “Hubert and Ferdinand. Have you noticed anything different about them?”

Claude thought back to the meeting and the brief greetings that they’d exchanged before that. They had seemed normal enough, though he _had_ noticed a few lasting glances and moments when their hands would “accidentally” brush against each other. “They seem to be getting along a lot better these days. I remember them being at each other’s throats back when we were in the academy.” It was nothing odd, though. Everyone had grown up, and the war had encouraged closeness between many friends that he knew. “Are they courting?”

“No, and that is the problem.” Edelgard looked exasperated, and Claude grinned as he realized what she was up to.

“Aha, the emperor is looking to be a matchmaker, is she?” Who knew? He hadn’t thought Edelgard to be the type. “They’re oblivious to each other’s feelings, so you want me to set them up?”

“In short, yes.” She sighed. “It isn’t that I want to meddle in their affairs. It’s just...they are two of my closest and oldest friends. I would like them to be happy.”

Claude nodded, understanding her viewpoint. Besides, it must have been terribly frustrating to see her two main advisors be so close to each other but skirting around their feelings. The tension must be unbearable. “I’ll see what I can do within the week that I’m here.”

“Thank you, Claude.”

* * *

His first plan of attack was to put the idea in their heads. Once Ferdinand and Hubert realized that they could, in fact, be dating, they would either furiously deny the thought or come to slowly embrace it. Claude was obviously betting on the latter.

“Oh, we have become good friends over the years. It is rather funny to think that we used to fight all the time, though we do still argue now and then.” The look on Ferdinand’s face couldn’t be described as anything but fond.

“Have you ever thought about being more than friends? Claude figured that being blunt was the only way this would work, considering that the two of them seemed more oblivious than he’d first thought. 

Ferdinand _blushed_. He was so clearly in love, and Claude had to stop himself from banging his head on the wall. “Well, what I think does not matter. I doubt that Hubert considers me as anything more than a friend, and I am fine with that. His comfort comes first.”

“So you _have_ thought about it.” Claude pursed his lips. “You know, a relationship goes both ways. What you want matters too.”

Ferdinand looked away, his face still red. Clearly, Claude would also have to track down Hubert and talk to him as well. He patted Ferdinand on the back and smiled at him sympathetically. “Think on it a bit more, yeah?”

Hubert wasn’t that hard to find, actually. He was lurking around on the stairs near Edelgard’s office, which was to be expected. “Hubert! Can I talk to you? Of course I can.”

The other man gave him a glare, and Claude wondered how that would look when his face turned red. “What do you want, Claude? I am busy.”

Claude snorted. “No, you’re not. I wanted to ask you about Ferdinand.”

Hubert was immediately on alert. Or rather, _more_ alert than he already was. “Has something happened to him?” His voice remained calm, but there was a thread of something in it. Concern, maybe?

“Nah, nothing like that. I just wanted to know how you feel about him.”

He narrowed his eyes at Claude, clearly displeased at this line of questioning. “I don’t see how that is any of your business.”

“Just humor me,” Claude said, knowing he would likely get shut down but not wanting to betray Ferdinand’s trust by using his words on Hubert. 

“He is...a friend,” Hubert acquiesced. But Claude had caught the moment of hesitation, and he needed to pounce on it.

“Just friends?” he pressed. He was doing all this at the risk of pissing off one of the Empire’s most dangerous men, but hey, having Edelgard indebted to him for even something small like this would be nice. 

“We are, as you say, “just friends.” There is nothing wrong with being friends.”

“Well yeah, of course,” Claude looked at him closely. “But if there were romantic feelings involved, would you be willing to pursue them?”

Hubert immediately shook his head, and Claude felt the disappointment wiggle into his chest. “My presence is...not a pleasant one. I would not want to drag him down to stand with me in the dark depths of the Empire’s inner dealings.”

Okay. It wasn’t over yet. “Maybe you can meet in the middle,” he suggested. “Just a thought.” He took off before Hubert could say anything else, but when he glanced back, the other man looked contemplative. He’d count that as a win.

* * *

The week was almost over, and he would have to return to Almyra soon. Claude had been keeping an eye on Ferdinand and Hubert, though neither had made a move yet.

That was fine. He was patient.

It was on the last day that he noticed something different in the air as the two of them met up. Claude immediately hid behind a wall and listened in.

“Hubert. There is something I would like to say to you.”

“Hm. I have something to say, as well. What a coincidence.”

“You can go first.”

“No, you.”

Claude rolled his eyes and tried his best not to groan out loud. No wonder Edelgard had found these two insufferable.

Speaking of Edelgard, he spotted her passing by and gestured her over silently. Luckily, she caught on quick and silenced her footsteps as she joined him behind the wall.

It seemed that Ferdinand had gone first. “I have been thinking about our relationship. I mean, our friendship. I felt that it would be dishonest of me to hide my true feelings for you, which are...romantic in nature.” His voice trailed off, trembling slightly from the nerves.

There was silence on Hubert’s end, and Claude risked a peek to see what was happening. He needn’t have worried; the two of them were completely absorbed in each other’s presence.

He retreated and mouthed, _HOLDING HANDS_ to Edelgard, and she smiled. Hubert had stepped up and taken Ferdinand’s hands in his own.

“I feel rather foolish,” Hubert said. “I had thought all this time that it would be selfish of me to bask in your light for too long, but if you feel the same as me, then...well. Perhaps I should not have kept myself away from you.”

“Hubert...you know as well as I do that I am flawed. But I believe that we complement each other well despite each of our flaws. I do not mind being witness to some of the tasks that I know you partake in. I would gladly shoulder some of that burden with you.”

This exchange was so... _sweet._ Who knew they had it in them? Claude brushed away a fake tear from his eye, and Edelgard smacked him on the shoulder. They exchanged a huge grin at their success.


End file.
